I’m not going to lie. I’m close to making an endorsement here.

To Vic Rawl, his well-funded opponent, Greene is the possible beneficiary of a historic voter-machine malfunction or, worse, a stolen election.

Greene maintains that the answer is much simpler. “I am the best candidate for the United States Senate in South Carolina,” he says, hitting his talking points, as he is apt to do. “And I am also the best person to be TIME magazine’s Man of the Year.” He is speaking now, between trips to the kitchen, in the living room, while his 81-year-old father James Sr., barefoot under a flannel blanket, dozes on the couch. Suddenly the television flashes to Greene’s face, with a Fox News announcer teasing an upcoming segment about the newbie’s “mental state.” This gets to Greene, who is tired of being treated by the press like a carnival act. “What about everyone else’s mental state?” he asks, before breaking into a chuckle. “It seems like things don’t apply to me. I’m the nominee, and 60% isn’t 60% anymore.”

He also said, when Time first approached him for an interview, “Does the candidate get paid?” Ahem. Think this story can’t get any better? Think again: As I write this, Rawl is making his case to a committee of South Carolina Democrats that Greene won because of malfunctions in electronic voting machines (the Clyburn theory!) and that either a new primary should be ordered or Rawl should be declared the winner. I really hope they do that, just because the media backlash to having the unassuming underdog stripped of his moment of glory will be simply exquisite. And aside from Clyburn, I don’t think I’ve heard a single Democratic politician seriously suggest there was widespread error in the balloting. On the contrary, the anecdotal evidence points to people voting for Greene for various dopey reasons. Quote:

Morris is sitting with his brothers, Calvin, 64, and Bernard, 65. Like him, they are military veterans and Columbia natives.

“Ronnie,” Calvin says, upending his glass of sweet tea, “you can’t accept the fact that the Republicans have been up to dirty tricks. When you smell mud, there’s dirt. Somebody has just got to dig it up.”

“But this is a die-hard Republican state,” Ronnie says. “Why would the Republicans have to plant someone? They know they’ll win. It boils down to this: People went out and pulled the first name on the ballot. I did a little survey. Six friends of mine. Five said they did exactly what I did. Just voted for the dude. And these five people didn’t fall off no garbage truck, either. These are educated people.”

The Daily Caller also notes that there are obvious racial implications in denying a victory won by a middle-class black candidate in order to nominate an upper-class white one, but surely Democrats aren’t worried about that. After all, they did such a sweet, sensitive job handling Roland Burris’s appointment to the Senate by Rod Blagojevich.

Here’s audio of Greene on “America’s Morning News” fielding questions from John McCaslin and Amy Holmes about whether he hopes to be in the Senate for as long as Strom Thurmond. Maybe it’s time to stop the interviews now. Click the image to listen.